In The News

Trouble Brews for “Imported” Beers Made in America

Jacob Gershman and Tripp Mickle July 9, 2015
Multinational companies took note that American consumers appreciated foreign autos manufactured in the United States. “Brewers like AB InBev shifted production of imports to the U.S. after foreign auto makers did the same in recent years without losing prestige or the ‘import’ label for brands like BMW and Mercedes,” notes a report in the Wall Street Journal, adding that sales of import beers...

Can China Save Greece – And the EU?

Shannon Tiezzi July 1, 2015
China is the EU's second trading partner behind the US, and the EU is China's biggest trading partner. “The EU is committed to open trading relations with China. However, the EU wants to ensure that China trades fairly, respects intellectual property rights and meets its WTO obligations,” notes the European Commission. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attended a China-EU summit in Brussels,...

The Blue Amazon

Nathan Thompson and Robert Mugah June 24, 2015
Brazil, the world’s seventh largest economy and South America’s largest, is looking to expand its reach across the Atlantic: “Brazil, in particular, wants to safeguard its on- and offshore natural resources, which the navy calls the Amazônia Azul, or Blue Amazon,” write Nathan Thompson and Robert Mugah for Foreign Affairs. “These include extensive petroleum and gas reserves, as well as fishing...

Fabric of a Trade Deal: US Asks Vietnam to Cut Out Chinese Textiles

Tom Wright and Mark Magnier June 24, 2015
Representatives of the American fashion industry are protesting a stipulation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement that would reduce imports from China and require Vietnam to source textile materials from the United States and Mexico: “U.S. fashion brands oppose this approach, which they say ignores the complexities of global supply chains,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Vietnam is...

Coalition in Turkey Could Alter the Country’s Foreign Policy Direction

Chris Miller June 18, 2015
Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party, or AK, won the most votes in the June 7 election, but not enough to dodge the need for building a coalition in parliament. The coalition AK builds could swing right or left with implications for foreign policy, explains Chris Miller, a PhD student at Yale University and a research associate with the Hoover Institution. “A right-wing coalition...

Modi’s Visit to China Marks New Tone, But No Concrete Progress

Neelam D Sabharwal June 16, 2015
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have set a new tone for India's relations with China, yet personal rapport and economic interdependence offer little guarantee of settling longstanding strategic issues that divide the world’s two most populous nations, warns Neelam D Sabharwal, a former Indian ambassador to the Netherlands and UNESCO, now associate professor with the University of Maastricht...

The TTIP Gap: How a Trans-Atlantic Trade Deal Can Be Fixed

Christoph Pauly, Michael Sauga, Michaela Schiessl and Gerald Traufetter June 11, 2015
The US exported $344 billion to the EU, and the EU exported $450 billion to the US in 2013, reports Spiegel Online. Policymakers expect the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to counter competition from Asia by streamlining regulations. German manufacturers anticipate meeting one US standard rather than 50 imposed by states. “In virtually every industrial sector today, a large number...